


Choking On The Words (Can You Fill The Silence?)

by LaynaVile



Series: Whumptober 2020 [16]
Category: Hannibal (TV), Hannibal Lecter Series - All Media Types
Genre: Body Horror, Cannibalism, Canon-Typical Violence, Hannibal is self-centered, Hannibal thinks his pain is worse than everyone else's, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Mild Blood, Mild Gore, Muteness, Pre-Relationship, Sign Language (mentioned), hannibal's POV, tongue removal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:47:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27208366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaynaVile/pseuds/LaynaVile
Summary: Mason Verger was a cruel man, everyone knew that, but the depth of his cruelty was not known.Alana Bloom did not know the depth; Mason had tormented his sister--Alana's wife. He had kidnapped and tortured Will Graham--Alana's dear friend.Will Graham did not know the depth; Mason had kidnapped him and attempted to cut his face off.Margot Verger thought she knew the depth; Mason had taken her child, and her ability to have a child.But the one person who truly knew the depth of Mason Verger's cruelty was Hannibal Lecter.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Series: Whumptober 2020 [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1957300
Comments: 11
Kudos: 36





	Choking On The Words (Can You Fill The Silence?)

**Author's Note:**

> Whumptober day 24 - forced mutism  
> \--  
> As always no beta so all mistakes are my own  
> \--  
> Title from The Silence by Bastille  
> \--  
> Enjoy😌

Mason Verger was a cruel man, everyone knew that, but the depth of his cruelty was not known.

Alana Bloom did not know the depth; Mason had tormented his sister--Alana's wife. He had kidnapped and tortured Will Graham--Alana's dear friend.

Will Graham did not know the depth; Mason had kidnapped him and attempted to cut his face off.

Margot Verger thought she knew the depth; Mason had taken her child, and her ability to have a child.

But the one person who truly knew the depth of Mason Verger's cruelty was Hannibal Lecter.

When Mason had put the bounty out on Hannibal, he'd taken Will too, and while Hannibal had eventually saved Will with the help of Alana and Margot, he was grievously injured.

Mason had intended to take Hannibal apart and eat him, while wearing Will's face--Hannibal didn't let that happen, but Mason--through Cordell had taken a part of Hannibal.

Not a finger or even an entire limb. He did not take Hannibal's ears or nose. He didn't take an eye or even his cock as Mason had joked about. He did not cut into Hannibal's belly and take one of his organs. No, what Mason took was somehow worse--he cut Hannibal's tongue out and had Cordell cook it for him. Hannibal doesn't know if Mason ever got to eat it, nor does he care to know.

After Cordell cut his tongue out he stitched it up--Mason didn't want Hannibal to bleed out before _the fun began_.

He tried to speak to Will the morning after he'd rescued him, but the swelling and pain wouldn't allow him.

Will didn't understand, he didn't know what happened and when Hannibal tried to show him, Will turned away and wouldn't even look at him again.

Hannibal called nine-one-one with Will's landline, he couldn't speak but he knew they would come anyway.

He sat outside the house waiting for them to come and he surrendered without putting up any sort of fight.

During his intake Jack Crawford interrogates him and gets angry when Hannibal cannot speak. Hannibal opens his mouth and shows him the painful, crudely stitched stump of his tongue.

Jack hesitantly gives him a piece of paper and of all things a crayon--he figures it's because they don't trust him with anything sharp--and he's instructed to write his answers to Jack's questions.

He gives simple answers, which also angers Jack.

Eventually he ends up in the BSHCI, Alana _knew_ Mason had taken something from him, however she didn't know what until he was in her care.

"I'm sorry that you cannot speak, I'm sure you have plenty of taunts and threats you'd like to throw at me. I'll thank you for saving Will but I'm grateful I'll never have to hear your voice again."

Hannibal tries for months and months to _teach_ himself to speak again, but the way Cordell removed his tongue coupled with the psychological trauma of it, he is unable.

Perhaps one day he will learn to properly cope with the trauma and be able to speak again--worrying about it isn't going to do him any good.

So instead of dwelling he requests books on sign language, focusing on ASL and LIS--American sign language so perhaps someday he will be able to communicate with Will again, and Italian sign language because other than Lithuanian, it is the language he is most comfortable speaking. He'd learned some when he was younger, but only basics like please, and thank you--he'd always meant to learn more, but found other things more pertinent.

It takes him the better part of a year to learn without someone to practice with or visual aides such as videos, but he gets it as best as he's going to.

"Will's getting married this weekend."

He remains calm--outwardly, as he signs, "Congratulations."

After she leaves he throws a bit of a tantrum, he should've anticipated this, but no amount of mental preparation could truly prepare him for how he feels knowing Will is moving on.

Jack Crawford comes to visit him, asking for help with a new serial killer, though Hannibal knows that's not strictly true.. while his _serial killing_ is a more recent development, he's killed before, he'd stalked and killed a couple in their home a few years ago.

Hannibal refuses to help--he will only help if he gets to see Will, he doesn't tell them that, but they know, of course they know, Will is all Hannibal draws.

"Hello, Dr. Lecter."

Hannibal cannot help but stare, he's waited three years to see Will again. He wonders if Jack or Alana informed him of what happened to Hannibal, if he knows Hannibal cannot--will not, as Alana says--speak.

He signs a simple greeting, and now it's Will's turn to stare.

"They told me you had an accident and that you cannot speak."

'It was not an accident' he wants to scream, but he's afraid of scaring Will away by trying.

He instead shakes his head firmly and signs no.

"No? No, what? No, it wasn't an accident?"

He signs yes.

"You were deliberately cut?"

Hannibal nods.

"By someone here?"

No, he signs again.

"Mason?"

He nods rapidly, signing yes.

"Show me."

Hannibal steps as close to the glass barrier as he can and opens his mouth.

He listens to the startled noise Will makes. "If I had known.." his sentence trails off unfinished.

Hannibal shakes his head, opens his mouth and tries his hardest. "Will." He manages some sound--maybe it doesn't sound exactly like Will's name, the letter sounds difficult to form, but he tries and it gets Will's attention.

"I'm sorry." He says.

No, Hannibal signs, Will has nothing to be sorry for. He signs help, unsure if Will will understand.

"You want to help?" Will asks.

Hannibal nods--he'd intended to us this _new_ killed to his advantage, to get rid of Will's family, but seeing Will now, he's unsure if he can.. if he wants to, Will seems happy.

No, no, Hannibal wants Will all to himself, he wants to comfort Will in the aftermath of his family's deaths.

He will do this and he will have Will in the end.

**Author's Note:**

> Arguably what Mason did to Margot is worse, I understand that argument completely, but Margot still got her child in the end.  
> Hannibal, a psychiatrist--though no longer practicing at this point--cannot speak. A man who loves a good cannibal pun, cannot speak. A man who uses his voice--his words, to manipulate people, cannot speak. Something you need to remember is this is "Hannibal's story" and in Hannibal's eyes what happened to him **is** worse than what happened to Margot. Objectively, yes, Margot suffered worse at the hands of her brother--but I'm not writing her story here. If that was the case, I would've included all the horrific things Mason did to her. In no way am I trying to erase any of Margot's pain or suffering. But as I said, I'm not writing "her story" I'm writing Hannibal's. I'm sorry if my omission of Mason beating and raping her upsets anyone, but I purposely did not include that because it's not the focus of this specific story.  
> \--  
> Wanna send me a prompt? Check the pinned post on my [Tumblr](https://laynavile.tumblr.com/) and send 'em in.


End file.
